Demand for ambulance services in Japan has risen rapidly over the last decade [6].

The increased demand for ambulance services has gradually lengthened the time it takes for an ambulance crew to respond and arrive at the scene. As delayed response time reduces the number of patients who survive from sudden cardiac arrest [7-9], priority dispatch of ambulances to patients in a critical condition has become a matter of importance for Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the Japanese prehospital emergency medical services system. On October 1st, 2008, the city of Yokohama, Japan started a new emergency medical service system that was designed to dispatch ample emergency medical service staff to patients in a critical condition. Distinguishing patients in a critical condition from patients with non-critical conditions at the moment of the emergency call is known as call triage. The algorithm for call triage used in the new ambulance Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical dispatch system is not a simple flowchart but a mathematical model with coefficients and the constant. The probability of patient being in a life-threatening condition (life threat risk) is calculated with a computerized

dispatch system, in which information provided in the call to the emergency service is used to estimate the risk. The present study was conducted to review Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the algorithm. Methods Organization of Emergency Medical Services in Japan In Japan, local governments provide prehospital emergency medical services as a public service. Anyone can use an ambulance free of charge by phoning 119. Most local governments staff ambulances with emergency life-saving technicians who are trained for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and pass a national examination. They play an important role as a first responder in the pre-hospital emergency Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical field. They are allowed to defibrillate, to perform tracheal

intubation and to administer a resuscitative drug, epinephrine, during out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical under online direction from an emergency medicine physician [10,11]. All patients who received advance life support at the scene were transported to hospitals. The Fire and Selleckchem INK1197 Disaster Management Agency, Ministry of General Affaires of Japan reported that oxyclozanide the national average call-response interval of ambulances was 7.0 minutes in 2007. Study population and setting The data used in the study was collected during the Yokohama New Emergency System from October 1st, 2008 to March 31st, 2009. Yokohama is Japan’s second largest city (population 3.58 million, Census 2005). Yokohama’s prehospital emergency medical service is unified and managed by the Emergency Medical Division of the Yokohama Safety Management Bureau. The number of ambulances dispatched in 2008 was 146,145, and this number had increased constantly up to 2005, after which the rate of increase reduced [12]. In the system, emergency call workers conduct dispatch.